Such factors as a belief in individual freedom of choice, the support of minority groups' rights, and a concern for the psychological effects of mothering on children have tended to mitigate against a clear-cut advocacy of the employment of mothers under Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Two recent phenomena, however, have emerged…

Stories of living on welfare are told by five women and their children. Each represents a group of women who use Aid to Families with Dependent Children. The reasons these women have turned to public aid, and their means of achieving self-sufficiency illustrate why welfare policy and family policy must be redefined to account for the differences…

Books in the Opposing Viewpoints series challenge readers to question their own opinions and assumptions. By reading carefully balanced views, readers confront new ideas on the topic of interest. Although some experts believe that the problem of teenage pregnancy has been overstated, other recent studies have led many people to believe that…

Race is only one of the prisms through which to examine the political and social life of Americans, but it is one in which there has been insufficient determination of contemporary dynamics. For this discussion, the most important issue is the debate within the black community regarding the nature and causes of the crisis facing African Americans…

This book examines welfare reform, occasioned by the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), which abolished Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and replaced it with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It is based on research in Ohio, Kansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan that…

Books in the Opposing Viewpoints Series present debates about current issues that can be used to teach critical reading and thinking skills. The opinions expressed in the selections in each series title examine many different aspects of a single issue. Detractors of the welfare system have long argued that the system promotes dependency. They…

Contributions to this book are based on presentations at a conference hosted by The Urban Institute in April 1994 to consider the challenges of achieving self-sufficiency for the nation's poor. Achieving long-term self-sufficiency for society's members is a fundamental social goal, but the problems involved, particularly those of finding enough…

This book provides background for evaluating public policy choices in the area of welfare reform. Although it focuses on Missouri's Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program, it incorporates and compares national data and it raises the same fundamental questions about the fate of welfare in the United States. The eight chapters of the book…

Efforts to reform the welfare system in the United States have been gaining momentum since the late 1980s. Critics have been arguing that states should receive federal waivers to create their own programs to encourage welfare recipients to find work. The thrust of the 1996 welfare reform act transfers control over welfare spending to the states.…

Papers in this collection result from an 18-month exploration of ways to reform services for children and families in big cities, a so-called "rolling seminar" searching for ways to provide supportive and nourishing communities for city children. Contributions to this collection include: (1) "Themes and Viewpoints" (Editors);…

It is racism that has undermined the War on Poverty declared by Lyndon Johnson, and the country must come to terms with its history of racism if there is to be any hope of accomplishing welfare reform today. American social policy has continually foundered on issues of race. The antipoverty efforts begun by the Johnson administration were never…

This book presents research results relating to historical trends in the AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) caseload, the personal characteristics and patterns of welfare participation in a nationally representative sample of young women followed over a 13-year period, and an evaluative survey of the effectiveness of past education,…

In 1993 the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights concluded that the election of Bill Clinton as President presented a new opportunity to work toward equal opportunity. In 1995, at the midpoint of his first term, the Commission identified the new and often formidable challenges his administration was facing in dealing with issues of equal…

This book asserts that public assistance programs--particularly in countries in Western Europe--have been demonstrated to relieve deprivation and ensure an acceptable standard of living for those nations' families. Contrasting the extensive child welfare programs offered by France with those of the United States, this book describes in detail an…

This book, through a review of the status of working women on bottom and on the top, refutes a set of myths about women, work, and poverty that have shaped welfare reform. Chapter 1 highlights the big changes affecting women in the U.S. economy. Chapter 2 describes who is poor in the United States and examines how poverty has come to be defined.…